Childhood Fantasies
Epilogue
Jarod felt
the cold feet against his body before he was properly awake and he looked up to
find his daughter staring at him before she kissed his nose.
"Hey,
gorgeous."
"Daddy,
when's Sam coming home?"
"Today,
baby. We're going to go and get her this morning."
"And…?"
"Yes,
your new brother and sister too."
"And
when Sydney comes…"
He sat up in
bed and stared at her before his eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me
something you shouldn't be again, like with the twins?"
She giggled.
"Maybe." Gently the little girl kissed her father's nose. "Mommy
said that I could ''cident'lly' tell you."
"And you
did 'accidentally' tell me, you're right." He laughed. "We'll have a
very nice surprise for him, won't we?"
She nodded
and snuggled against him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he leaned back
against the bed head. "Will you be okay when I'm in school all day and
Sam's at work?"
"Hey, I
managed with you two, didn't I?" He laughed. "And if Sydney's coming
then I'll have somebody else to help me."
"Daddy?"
a new voice asked from the doorway.
Jarod looked
around to see his son come into the room. He laughed as the boy scrambled up
onto the bed. "Well, we're all up early this morning, aren't we?"
"Breakfast,
Daddy?"
"Are you
hungry, Jamie?"
The boy
nodded, grabbing Jarod's hand and pulling him in the direction of the door.
Jarod laughed and, both children clinging to him, got out of bed.
* * * *
"Hi,
sweetheart." He stopped in the doorway. "I know I'm early, but my
alarm clock must have been running fast when it dragged me out of bed this
morning."
Sam smiled.
"It's okay, I got the feeling you'd be here soon." She looked around
as he walked in. "Where are the kids?"
"Ruth
saw me come in and abducted them. She said she's bring them back in about half
an hour."
"We'll
never see them again." Sam rolled her eyes and returned Jarod's kiss as he
sat on her bed. "Is everything ready at home?"
"It is.
I put the last item in the last drawer last night so that it would all be
perfect when we brought our latest family members home today."
Jarod walked
over and picked up the small babies from the two beds in the corner, carrying
them over to their mother and putting the little girl in her mother’s arms.
"And
have you heard from Maria recently?" Sam asked.
"Only in
an indirect sort of way when Bronwyn 'accidentally' told me this morning that
apparently Sydney's coming to visit."
"Oh,
really?" She smiled. "When?"
"I
didn't get that far, but I'm guessing it'll be soon. Just in time for you to
have a few days off and then come back to work."
"While
you stay at home and do nothing all day."
He grinned at
the expression on her face. "Yeah, just like that."
"Well,
he'll get a shock or two."
Looking down
at the tiny baby that lay in his arms, Jarod smiled tenderly. "They'll
only be little shocks."
* * * *
Jarod handed
the mug to his older son and put the bottle to the lips of the baby boy in his
arms.
"Daddy,
he's coming," Bronwyn announced.
"Sydney?"
Jarod smiled. "Is he coming today?"
She nodded
vigorously, scooping the last of the ice cream out of the bowl and putting it
into her mouth with a big smile. He laughed and tossed a damp cloth over to
her.
"I said
a year ago that you'd have to learn to eat ice cream neatly, Bronwyn, so when
are you going to?"
"When
you do." She giggled. "Last time, you spilled it all down your
front."
"That
wasn't really his fault." Sam reached over and wiped the little girl's
face as she laughed. "I grabbed his hand when the contractions
started."
Jarod laughed
at her. "And I'll bet you're glad that's over."
"You
have no idea." She rolled her eyes. "One day a man is going to have
to give birth so that they can design something natural that will take the pain
away."
He grinned.
"Hmm, design… natural - do you see a problem there?"
She laughed
and put her daughter down in the small bassinet, starting it rocking gently
underneath the baby. "I knew you'd make a difficulty with that."
"Hey, I
was only being logical."
"Well,
stop." She reached over and pulled a pile of mail in her direction,
glancing through it. "You got a letter."
"I won't
sue you if you read it." He picked up the boy and put him over one
shoulder, gently patting his back. "My hands are full. Go for it."
She eased
open the envelope and pulled out the card it contained, opening it and then
glancing at her watch. Jarod watched as she got up and walked over to the sofa,
sitting down and opening his computer. He got up with a laugh and carried his
new son over to sit beside her.
"Let me
guess..."
"You
needn't bother, seeing as you're already well aware of who it's from."
Sam handed
him the card and he opened it to see the woman’s signature and also a date and
time. He looked up with a laugh. "Is she getting better?"
"I'd
like to think I am, Jarod, yes." The dead woman smiled. "Happy
anniversary and congratulations to the two of you. Sam, you weren't wrong when
you said I was trying to play Cupid."
"It
worked." Sam leaned back against Jarod's outstretched arm with a smile as
she looked at the screen, pulling her older daughter onto her lap.
"I'm
glad." Maria smiled again. "And I'm also glad that you provided my
children with such lovely siblings."
Jarod rolled
his eyes. "Can we get to know them without being told every aspect of
their personalities before they're a fortnight old?"
"I'm
talking about what they look like, Jarod, not their personalities. But, if you
don't want me to tell you…" She trailed off and shrugged.
"Thank
you." He grinned. "After all, as you said so well at Christmas time,
you wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."
"So you
didn't want Bronwyn to tell you that Sydney's coming?"
"We-ell…"
Jarod grinned. "Okay, you can tell us the important things."
"I'm
glad to hear it." She smiled. "For one thing, you might want to open
the door before you say anything else about Sydney. He's standing on the
doorstep."
As the screen
went blank, Jarod laughed and got to his feet, handing his new son to the boy's
mother before walking over to the door. He opened it to find Sydney with his
hand raised to knock.
"We've
been expecting you," the younger man announced.
"Oh,
really?" Sydney stepped into the house, smiling. "For how long?"
Jarod turned
to Sam. "How old are the babies again, sweetheart? Is it four days or five
since we brought them home?"
She laughed
at the look on Sydney's face as he stared at Jarod.
"You
what?"
"Hey, if
you can try to spring a surprise on us by coming to visit then we can reply in
kind." He grinned. "Want to meet the latest arrivals?"
"I can't
believe…" His eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We
wanted it to be a surprise."
Sydney took a
seat on the sofa and looked down at the small body that was put into his arms
before he looked up.
"Which?"
"A
boy." Jarod paused. "Jacob."
"You
didn't…?" Sydney's eyes glittered suspiciously.
"And why
not?" Sam smiled. "Actually, it was also my father's name so that
made it seem like a doubly good reason."
He glanced up
at Jarod. "Did you say 'babies', as in plural?"
"No,
Syd. They changed the rules of English grammar while you weren't paying
attention." The new father walked over and picked up his baby daughter.
"Yes, I said 'babies', plural. And if you guess twins, I'll even let you hold
both at once."
* * * *
"Does
Parker know?" Sydney asked, as he rocked the girl in his arms, smiling at
the long dark lashes that swept the round rosy cheeks.
Jarod shook
his head as he put his baby son down in the hand-carved wooden cradle.
"Not unless her mother told her. We thought we'd keep it a complete
surprise. In fact, we only told my parents during the second last month."
Sydney
suddenly narrowed his eyes and made an obvious display of counting back the
months on the fingers of his free hand. "They weren't premature, were
they?"
The younger
man grinned as he took his daughter and put her down, covering her with the
thick blanket. "No, they weren't."
"So all
your convenient little excuses at Christmas about 'long term'..."
"I'm
impressed that you remember." Jarod laughed. "Yes, we were planning
for the future by then and Sam was actually already four weeks pregnant."
"You
knew at four weeks?" Sydney followed Jarod down the hall. "How?"
"Our
daughter 'accidentally' used the names Catherine and Jacob in 'casual
conversation' and as she had no reason to mention either Sam's parents or your
brother and Parker's mother, we guessed. Then she told us."
Sydney nodded
and then picked up the boy who threw himself at his legs when the two men
appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"How
long are you staying for?" Jarod asked.
"Well, I
was only planning to stay for a day or two, but I can easily extend it if you
feel like you need a spare pair of hands."
"Hey,
I've got two perfectly good ones."
Sydney
grabbed his right hand as Jarod was about to walk into the kitchen and looked
down at the faint marks on it. "Perfectly good?"
"It's
fine, Syd. It healed completely except for a few scars and I hardly remember I
even did it anymore."
"I'm
glad to hear it."
* * * *
The little
girl threw herself at her father as soon as the front door was open and he
picked her up with his free arm, keeping the other firmly around the baby girl
in his other arm.
"How was
school, sweetie?"
"Good,
Daddy." She threw her arms around his neck. "Were you okay here all
day without me?"
"I had
Sydney to help, didn't I?" He kissed her. "I missed my girl
though."
"You
mean Sam?"
"No,"
he laughed. "Try again."
"Catherine?"
"She was
here with me, wasn't she?"
"Miss
Parker?"
He sat down
on the sofa and tickled her. "You're not trying hard enough."
"Me."
"Of
course."
"So you
didn't miss me at all?" another voice asked.
Jarod looked
up to see Sam standing in the doorway and grinned. "One of these days I'm
going to learn when to keep my mouth shut."
"No."
She came over and kissed him. "You'd never do that."
"Oh,
really? Why not?"
"You
can't teach an old dog..."
"Are you
saying I'm old?" Jarod tried to look indignant. "I've just
spent the whole day running - and I do mean running - after three small
children and then my wife calls me 'old'."
"Wife?"
Sydney looked up sharply. "Is there something else you've forgotten to
tell me?"
* * * *
She curled up
beside him and rested her head against his chest, feeling as his hand moved
through her hair.
"You
still awake?"
"Uh
huh." Looking up, she smiled. "Work isn't that tiring."
"Maybe I
should try it some time." He tried to stifle a yawn and she smiled.
"It
doesn't help when your alarm clock comes in and wakes you up at three."
"How you
sleep through her climbing into bed is beyond me."
"She
doesn't talk to me, so I ignore it and go back to sleep."
"Want to
teach me that skill?"
"Nope."
She gently kissed his chest. "She'd be hurt if you didn't talk to
her."
"You're
right." He tightened his arms around her and she smiled, looking up.
"I've
been meaning to ask - your comments earlier today..."
Jarod laughed
softly. "I've been wondering when you'd pick up on those."
"Ah, so
they were deliberate."
"Of
course. Just about everything I say is."
Raising
herself on one arm, Sam looked down at him. Gently he reached up and brushed
her hair out of her eyes.
"Marry
me."
Slowly she
lowered herself so that her face was lying on the pillow next to his and he
rolled over so that he could look into her eyes. He put both arms around her
and pulled her closer to him, kissing her softly at first and then slightly
harder, feeling as she relaxed in his hold. Pulling away slightly, Jarod looked
down into her eyes again, his thumb gently brushing her lips.
"Well?"
"Yes,
Jarod." She nodded and leaned over, kissing him again. "Of course I
will."